Scottish Executive

Central Heating

Dr Winnie Ewing (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the implementation of the central heating scheme for pensioners who are council tenants in Highland, Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland will be subject to the result of tenants’ ballots on stock transfer proposals.

Jackie Baillie: All tenants in the social rented sector who lack central heating will receive it. If they vote for stock transfer under the New Housing Partnership initiative the new landlord will be required to install central heating. If they vote to remain with the local authority they will receive central heating under the Scottish Executive programme.

Community Care

Mr Michael McMahon (Hamilton North and Bellshill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the membership of the Care Development Group will be announced.

Susan Deacon: I am pleased to be able to announce today the membership of the Care Development Group.

  Chair 

  Malcolm Chisholm, Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care

  Members

  Professor David Bell, Department of Economics, University of Stirling

  Dr Roger Gibbins, Chief Executive Highland Health Board

  Professor Alan Gilloran, Dean of Social Sciences and Health Care, Queen Margaret University

  Dr Sandra Grant, OBE, Chief Executive, Scottish Health Advisory Service

  Jim Jackson, Director, Alzheimer’s Scotland

  Alexis Jay, Director of Social Work and Housing Services, West Dunbartonshire Council

  David Kelly, Director of Community Services, West Lothian Council

  Professor Mary Marshall, Director, Dementia Services Development Centre

  Dr Ken O’Neill, Lead General Practitioner, South West Glasgow Local Health Care Co-operative

  Professor Alison Petch, Director, Nuffield Centre for Community Care Studies, University of Glasgow

  Sue Plummer, Director of Nursing, Borders Primary Care NHS Trust

  In undertaking their work the group will call on a wide range of expertise and advice to assist them. This will include, for example, liaising with those involved in organising the assessment of need and the delivery of care to people in their own homes, in residential or nursing homes and in hospital; with those involved in setting and monitoring standards for care, and with carers themselves. On the structural and technical issues involved, the group will seek such demographic, economic and financial advice as necessary from the acknowledged experts in these areas. The group will also be liaising closely with the Chief Nursing Officer on the follow up to her group’s work which will aim to develop a process to capture all care needs in a single assessment.

  It is also vitally important that older people themselves are fully involved in this process and the Care Development Group will seek the views of the full range of groups representing older people and their carers across the country.

  In addition, the Scottish Executive will commission research into the views of older people and carers about the availability and quality of current service provision and about their expectations of services in the future, in order to inform the group’s work.

  The group’s full terms of reference were announced on 31 January in response to question S1W-12937.

Flood Prevention

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all flood prevention schemes that have been funded since 1 July 1999 and those applications currently under consideration.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Flood prevention schemes which have completed the statutory process, including confirmation by the Scottish Ministers, and which have been funded since 1 July 1999 are:

  Moredun, Paisley Flood Prevention Scheme;

  River Kelvin Flood Prevention Scheme, and

  Bridge of Earn Flood Prevention Scheme.

  In addition, a request for funding for Collier Street, Johnstone Flood Prevention Scheme is presently under consideration.

Further Education

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish residents applied to (a) Strathclyde University, (b) Glasgow University and (c) Glasgow Caledonian University in each of the last three academic years.

Ms Wendy Alexander: This information is not available centrally.

Gaelic

Dr Winnie Ewing (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to expand Gaelic-medium education in the next five years.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: The Executive will continue to support the expansion of Gaelic-medium education through the Specific and Pre-school Grant Schemes. The Specific Grant will be £2,834,000 for 2001-02. The Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc Act 2000 requires education authorities to set out their plans for Gaelic-medium education in their annual report on improvement objectives. Guidance on the process of improvement planning under the Act is being considered. The Executive is in discussions with the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council on possible measures to secure an increase in the number of Gaelic-medium teachers.

Health

Dr Winnie Ewing (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what areas in the Highlands and Islands will be designated as pilot areas when NHS 24, the NHS telephone advice service, is rolled out in 2001 and when the service will cover the whole of the Highlands and Islands.

Susan Deacon: The Project Director is currently developing a detailed service specification for the roll out of NHS 24. Consideration of the issue of location for the service centres has yet to begin.

Junior Doctors

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to monitor the effects on staffing levels of a reduction in junior doctors’ hours.

Susan Deacon: The New Deal Implementation Support Group (ISG) is working with Trusts to help them reduce junior doctors’ hours and improve working conditions. We have recently expanded the group to increase the practical support that it can offer. The ISG is currently undertaking detailed work in each Trust to identify local action to reduce hours. Consideration of staffing levels is integral to this work.

Mortgage Repossession

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many mortgage repossession orders were made in each court district in each quarter of 2000.

Mr Jim Wallace: The recorded figures for the number of mortgage repossession orders granted in each court district in each quarter of 2000 are shown in the following table:

  


Court 
  

1q 2000 
  

2q 2000 
  

3q 2000 
  

4q 2000 
  

Total 
  



Aberdeen 
  

52 
  

75 
  

38 
  

40 
  

205 
  



Airdrie 
  

95 
  

102 
  

64 
  

51 
  

312 
  



Alloa 
  

10 
  

9 
  

13 
  

17 
  

49 
  



Arbroath 
  

17 
  

21 
  

17 
  

42 
  

97 
  



Ayr 
  

52 
  

46 
  

30 
  

28 
  

156 
  



Banff 
  

12 
  

7 
  

12 
  

12 
  

43 
  



Campbeltown 
  

7 
  

3 
  

10 
  

0 
  

20 
  



Cupar 
  

18 
  

15 
  

10 
  

5 
  

48 
  



Dingwall 
  

15 
  

6 
  

7 
  

12 
  

40 
  



Dornoch 
  

1 
  

2 
  

9 
  

3 
  

15 
  



Dumbarton 
  

52 
  

53 
  

39 
  

45 
  

189 
  



Dumfries 
  

23 
  

20 
  

25 
  

12 
  

80 
  



Dundee 
  

45 
  

48 
  

60 
  

21 
  

174 
  



Dunfermline 
  

43 
  

35 
  

34 
  

33 
  

145 
  



Dunoon 
  

11 
  

3 
  

2 
  

5 
  

21 
  



Duns 
  

2 
  

1 
  

0 
  

0 
  

3 
  



Edinburgh 
  

145 
  

166 
  

26 
  

18 
  

355 
  



Elgin 
  

12 
  

12 
  

24 
  

10 
  

58 
  



Falkirk 
  

40 
  

38 
  

41 
  

37 
  

156 
  



Forfar 
  

5 
  

4 
  

4 
  

2 
  

15 
  



Fort William 
  

3 
  

3 
  

4 
  

4 
  

14 
  



Glasgow 
  

197 
  

237 
  

264 
  

199 
  

897 
  



Greenock 
  

33 
  

20 
  

18 
  

12 
  

83 
  



Haddington 
  

17 
  

9 
  

26 
  

13 
  

65 
  



Hamilton 
  

134 
  

135 
  

111 
  

103 
  

483 
  



Inverness 
  

32 
  

18 
  

18 
  

17 
  

85 
  



Jedburgh 
  

6 
  

6 
  

13 
  

9 
  

34 
  



Kilmarnock 
  

30 
  

2 
  

28 
  

0 
  

60 
  



Kirkcaldy 
  

38 
  

53 
  

47 
  

24 
  

162 
  



Kirkcudbright 
  

9 
  

3 
  

6 
  

4 
  

22 
  



Kirkwall 
  

4 
  

11 
  

3 
  

2 
  

20 
  



Lanark 
  

2 
  

14 
  

17 
  

11 
  

44 
  



Lerwick 
  

1 
  

1 
  

4 
  

1 
  

7 
  



Linlithgow 
  

56 
  

63 
  

66 
  

44 
  

229 
  



Lochmaddy 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

1 
  

1 
  



Oban 
  

5 
  

1 
  

6 
  

0 
  

12 
  



Paisley 
  

4 
  

3 
  

27 
  

68 
  

102 
  



Peebles 
  

4 
  

6 
  

2 
  

1 
  

13 
  



Perth 
  

26 
  

33 
  

5 
  

25 
  

89 
  



Peterhead 
  

24 
  

22 
  

30 
  

22 
  

98 
  



Portree 
  

0 
  

4 
  

0 
  

4 
  

8 
  



Rothesay 
  

4 
  

2 
  

6 
  

5 
  

17 
  



Selkirk 
  

6 
  

13 
  

9 
  

11 
  

39 
  



Stirling 
  

17 
  

17 
  

21 
  

12 
  

67 
  



Stonehaven 
  

15 
  

8 
  

18 
  

9 
  

50 
  



Stornoway 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

0 
  

3 
  



Stranraer 
  

5 
  

2 
  

9 
  

3 
  

19 
  



Tain 
  

4 
  

3 
  

3 
  

3 
  

13 
  



Wick 
  

1 
  

1 
  

3 
  

0 
  

5 
  



Grand Total 
  

1,335 
  

1,357 
  

1,230 
  

1,000 
  

4,922

NHS Staff

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether staff transferring from one health Trust to another within the same health board area are entitled to carry with them any accrued statutory maternity rights entitlement, or time earned towards such entitlement and other employment rights, or whether these are lost as a result of such transfers.

Susan Deacon: The legal position depends on the reason for the transfer. Provided transferring staff have continuity of employment (as legally defined), then they will retain any rights (including maternity rights) that they have accrued.

NHS Staff

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are minimum standards of staffing levels in place for hospital Trusts.

Susan Deacon: Minimum levels of staffing for NHS Trusts in Scotland are not prescribed centrally. It is a matter for health boards and Trusts to assess and provide for local needs and to determine the staffing levels required for effective service delivery. National recommendations on staffing levels would cut across these responsibilities and would undermine boards’ and Trusts’ ability to provide a modern, flexible service matched to local needs. Boards’ and trusts’ performance is judged on the services they provide and their effect on health, which will be addressed by a new performance management framework as indicated in Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change .

Parliamentary Questions

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will answer question S1W-11911.

Mr Tom McCabe: As soon as possible.

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail, for each Executive agency and non-departmental public body, whether or not they have a contract with or employ the services of Tactica Solutions; what the length is of any such contracts, and how much has been paid to Tactica Solutions to date and what services were provided by them, broken down for each body.

Angus MacKay: The detailed information requested is not held centrally.

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the total costs involved in publishing, distributing and launching Working together for Scotland: A Programme for Government and how many copies have been published and distributed.

Henry McLeish: We have not yet received final invoices for all the costs involved in publishing, distributing and launching Working together for Scotland: A Programme for Government . We estimate the total costs to be about £37,890.

  4,000 copies were printed, of which 1,401 have been distributed.

Tourism

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S1W-10209 by Sarah Boyack on 28 November 2000, whether, in the absence of any publicly available documentary evidence on the impact of a Borders railway on tourism other than the Scottish Borders Tourist Board report dating from 1996 on the effect of a train line from Edinburgh to Galashiels on tourism in the Scottish Borders and Midlothian, it will now convert the information obtained in the consultants’ interviews into a publishable form and publish this information.

Sarah Boyack: No.